Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Sells 1,505 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 32,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,505 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.6% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,721 shares in the company, valued at $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 151,523 shares of company stock valued at $4,863,526 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $343.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.94 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $368.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $332.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was announced as the replacement for Verizon in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a high-profile index inclusion that can boost demand from index funds and improve investor sentiment. Alphabet replacing Verizon in Dow Jones Industrial Average index
• Positive Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and expanded portfolio-tracking tools, adding another product update that could support engagement across Google’s financial services ecosystem. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports noted Alphabet remains a favored large-cap tech name among some investors and that the stock had previously benefited from the Dow inclusion announcement.
• Negative Sentiment: News that multiple AI researchers are leaving Google for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI is pressuring sentiment, as investors worry about talent retention and competitive pressure in AI. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: Additional coverage of Google’s “brain drain” and reports that Gemini 3.5 Pro was delayed to July add to concerns that Alphabet may be losing ground in the AI race. Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch to July as it tweaks its new frontier AI model
• Negative Sentiment: The broader selloff also reflects anxiety around AI execution and competition, with investors reacting to talent departures and delays rather than the company’s longer-term fundamentals.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.